Backlash 2000

- My first review since becoming Douglas Nelson. Honestly in 2014 my WWE interest has waned (It's now Feb 2016 and it still has recovered yet) and I haven't done a review since October, it was a live HIAC 2013 from a pub, but what a PPV to make a return on, I'm honestly surprised I haven't already done this PPV. (Disclaimer, it's not that interesting) Interesting tidbit time - I intended to stay up to watch this on Channel 4 but only woke halfway through in time for Big Show/Angle, I was 10 years old and it was a school night.

Can Rock overcome the McMahon-Helmsley regime? Will Austin show up to help him? Hmm as this PPV was 14 years ago you probably know the answer but lets not ruin it for First Timers.

- April  2000 from Washington, DC.
- Attendance: 19,101

WWF Tag Titles - Edge/Christian (c) Vs. Road Dogg/X-Pac (w/ Tori)
 Debra 'handles' ring announcing duties. Say there's a kid in school who has Digimon Cards and he's cool for awhile but then one day kids come along with Yu-Gi-Oh cards and the Digi guy is no longer relevant well that's pretty much Outlaws/DX when Hardyz and co. flourished in late '99. 'X-Pac Sucks' chant but he proves he doesn't suck he instead spits which is what he does at Edge then leaves the ring. DX control Christian via double teaming him behind the refs back (Old school tag stuff that I do admire). Edge tags in but ref doesn't see it allowing more DX double team. Dogg applies a chinlock probably to allow him recovery time from being booted in the back. Double reverse DDT by Christian and a hot tag to Edge, a powerbomb gets 2 on X-Pac. Road Dogg avoids Unprettier but is Speared. Heel miscommunication as X-Pac cracks Tori. X-Factor to Edge but Christian hits X-Pac with the ring bell and Edge/Christian retain the gold, X-Pac is busted. ***1/2 - Good hot opener, sound tag psychology as well by DX. 

Light Heavyweight Title - Dean Malenko (c) Vs. Scotty 2 Hotty 
 Firstly how can you be a Light-Heavyweight? It's like being billed as a tall midget. Scotty starts better getting a couple of early 2s. Scotty goes for a bulldog but is clotheslined hard as Dean starts to take control. This is how hot WWF was I mean can you imagine Scott Taylor getting a title shot on PPV in 98 and being .... liked! Dean is going for the knee, psychology time though it'll only matter if Scotty sells it. This is becoming a cruiserweight version of Flair/Luger from Starrcade '88. Enziguri stops Deans onslaught for about 30 seconds. S2H gets 2s off of a roll up, a backslide and an inside cradle. Worm Time as crowd pop and Scotty seemingly forgets Deans leg work. Finish is certainly memorable as Dean finishes Scotty with a DDT off the top rope. yeah you read that right, DC goes 'Woaaaaah'. - ***1/2 - Scotty 2 Hotty in a near 4 **** match am I high? No just impressed, bit irritated the leg work was ignored but THAT finish picks up a 1/2 on its own. Great start to Backlash so far. (Watched Backlash multiple times last night and that impressed i'm bumping it to ****)

Acolytes Vs. Bull Buchanan/Big Bossman
 Well all good things must come to an end. It's not bad from a botching standpoint, though it's hard to botch punches and shoulder blocks, but I found this one slightly boring as I rarely like power matches and that's what we get here, of course APA cant job clean so Bossman cracks Bradshaw with a nightstick and Bull gets 3 with a Scissors Kick off the top rope. *1/2 (Forgot to note how ridiculous the finish was, Bossman hits Bradshaw w/ nightstick then Bradshaw stumbles to t'other side of the ring and moves himself in just the right position for Bulls finish)

Hardyz agree it's every man for himself in cordial fashion where as hardcore slaps Crash upside the head in their dressing room.

Hardcore Title - Crash Holly (c) Vs. Hardcore Holly Vs. Jeff Hardy Vs. Matt Hardy Vs. Tazz Vs. Saturn
 Only way this ends is if Crash beats an opponent or someone pins Crash. Matt and Crash climb a pendulum thing, it's part of the entrance set, where Crash hangs upside down after being kicked. 'Holy Shit' chant when Matt dives off said structure onto everyone else. Hardcore is strolling around ringside when Matt cracks him with a trashcan lid. Crash may as well adopt the last name 'Test Dummy' as he's been banged around from the start. Hardcore Falcon Arrows him onto a chair, pop when a ladder appears. Swanton by Jeff off the ladder but the Hardyz stop each other getting the pin. Tazzmission to Crash but Perry cracks him with a STOP sign and Crash pins Tazz to retain the Hardcore Title. **1/2 - Not bad by any means but nothing real special either. If you like seeing Crash get knocked around willy-to-that-nilly then you'll probably love this. (Bumped to *** as it's actually harmless fun and it keeps the action generally to the ring unlike most Hardcore matches which stumble from one area to another)

Big Show Vs. Kurt Angle
 Show was going through a phase of impersonating people, including one where he was Scottish Bastard or whatever from Austin Powers as this was in a Tag Title match Kurt Angle was pissed and so here we are. Wait that's not Big Show it's .... The Showster!! I'll have 'Real American' stuck in my head for weeks now (and I don't mind a jolt). He cuts a promo with Dude said a lot, he actually does a pretty good Hulk impression on the mic. Show Hulks Up from the start but Angle kicks out of the Legdrop!! Angle does some leg work but is soon Chokeslammed for the 3 count. ** - As comedy matches go this is probably the best, it gets the ** based on entertainment. Show squashed Angle here then lost to Shane O'Mac at the next PPV of course Angle would beat Shane at KOTR 2001. #TediousLink.

 Dudleyz Vs. T&A (w/ Trish Stratus)
  Dudleyz were going through a powerbombing women through tables phase, but like a teens anger phase it'd soon pass, however they wanted Trish to get tableised but she used her, ahem 'charms' to avoid it. Test should've been bigger in my mind as I still stand by my belief that Test should've faced HHH at Armageddon as you could still have the Steph turn. Lilian Garcia hides behind the ref in a nice touch to the Dudleyz angle. Bubba chases Trish ringside but runs into Test. Strategy now by Dudleyz as Albert is isolated from his corner. They hit the 'Wassssup' did that ever get an official name? Corner splash, big boot combo by T&A as now D-Von is being isolated. 'Tables' chant in DC. We get the ref didn't see a tag spot, I think that's been used in all tag matches tonight (authors note: I review PPVs in blocks as I find it hard to watch something for 21/2 hrs so don't remember every detail of other matches. Authors Note Note: We did). Sitout powerbomb gets Albert 2 as now Bubba's in kicking some booty. Suplex/neckbreaker combo gets 2 on Test, it was a version of 3D. All in fighting now then Dudleyz call for 3D but Trish distracts Bubba enabling Test to Big Boot him for the 3 count. Post match T&A get  3Dd as Trish is cornered, she tries to kiss her way free but Bubba has become resistant, kind of like Doomsday, and Trish is powerbombed through a table. ** - Perfectly acceptable tag match I've bumped it for the tag psychology and Trish taking the Table Bump.

An Ambulance whisks Trish away as Eddie Guerrero and Chyna pull up from the prom and are informed that Eddie has to wrestle next so he drives to the ring as it's time for ....


European Title - Eddie Guerrero (c) (w/ Chyna) Vs. Essa Rios (w/ Lita)
 Eddie and Essa had teamed a couple of times but to the surprise of no-one Lita kept screwing up so now the two men go to war. Eddie is wrestling in dress pants, part of me wanted him to wrestle in the tux as that'd be awesome, does keep the bowtie on though. Remember Aguila who wrestled at 'Mania 14 well that was Essa Rios. A man from Guadalajara Vs. an El Paso guy for the European Title. Nice back suplex by Eduardo who is working Essas arm. We miss something in-ring as camera is on Chyna. Essa misses a dive tor ringside as Eddie slaps him down. Back in now as Essa arm drags out of a Gory Bomb then monkey flips Eddy into the ropes. Fighting ringside now as Lita heads up top but Chyna pushes her into the announce table. Asai moonsault by Essa but he hits more Announce Table than Eddie, still impressive though. More highflying as Essa sentons over the turnbuckle onto Eddie. Back in as Essa misses a moonsault and is finished with an air plane spin into a neckbreaker. Eddie retains the European Title. **1/2 - Some moves were impressive but there wasn't much linking them nor was there a story to the match but by no means boring or anything. 

 We get words from HHH, Vince and Benoit or ####### if you prefer.

Intercontinental Title - Chris Benoit (c) Vs. Chris Jericho
 Chris Vs. Chris, Canadian Vs. Canadian, No Longer Rated Vs. Over Rated. IC was again the workers belt after being past around willy-to-that-nilly in '99. They exchange slaps, pinning predicaments and chops early. Rolling germans by Benoit, he goes for a tope when Jericho is ringside but Y2J moves and Benoit almost lands on his head. Jericho is whipped to ring steps but he jumps over them however Benoit dropkicks them into his legs. Benoit is on top now, gets 2 off a snap suplex. Abdominal stretch applied .... last time someone submitted to that was 1932, that joke had some dust on it. Lionsault connects but he cant capitalize, matches like these want me to not see people trained WWE style wrestling needs variety man, part of the reason ROH holds no interest for me. Benoit counters a top rope back suplex into a crossbody. Jericho hits his double powerbomb for 2 but is soon locked in Crossface, got to say Crossface is my favorite submission as it actually looks intense and painful. Y2J broke the Crossface via rope break then counters a second Crossface into the Walls but Benoit gets a rope break of his own. Ref Bump! as Jericho wipes out Tim White. Jericho is hit with the IC Title but then we get a lame DQ ending as Jericho uses IC Belt to block Diving Headbutt, Benoit retains. **** - Used to hate matches like these but these days I really like technical matches, they stood out especially on WWF cards. Really good match though the DQ ending is a bit uuhhhh inducing, though understandable in terms of continuing feud.

 WWF Title - Special Ref- Shane McMahon - Triple-H (c) (w/ Vince, Steph) Vs. The Rock
 Talk about having the deck stacked against you. Linda McMahon put Stone Cold in Rocks corner but he's not here tonight. Interesting tidbit Shane McMahon was ref at last years Backlash. Vince McMahon says many people bought todays program but that looks like WWF Magazine that he's holding and that the card is subject to change, no Austin. Rock avoids an early Pedigree attempt but when he's dumped ringside Vince pushes him into the ringpost. High knee gets Hunter 2 as he is on top to start. Chinlock is applied, notice no chin locks in Benoit/Jericho, Rock does start a fightback but HHH cuts it off. Vince interferes again when he hits Rock with the WWF Title which gets a fast 2 count. Rock takes control of the match at ringside but back in HHH hits a facebuster but walks into a DDT however Shane refuses to count. High spot of the match now as they go ringside when HHH attempts a Pedigree on Spanish Announce Table however Rock reverses into a Rock Bottom which Shane tries to stop so Rock Rock Bottoms them together through the table, Shane got squashed like a bug and Vinces face is a picture. After a recovery period HHH hits a Pedigree but there's no ref wait here's .... The Stooges in ref attire, they attack Rock when he kicks out. Vince cracks Rock with a chair as the numbers game takes advantage, Pedigree is set up but wait .... *Glass Smashes and DC erupts, I think the pop he gets can still be heard today* Austin's here chair shots to all HHH and his allies (bar Steph) the ones to Gerald Brisco and Shane McMahon are brain rattling. HHH is know easy prey for a Spine buster and Peoples Elbow .... Rock is WWF Champion! ****1/2 - For me this is the ultimate WWF style main event, crowd were hot through out, heels got their comeuppance what more could you want. (Taken from my twitter - Watched this PPV on a loop last night as didn't have energy to get up and change DVD and i've seen this PPV a gazillion times as it's fantastic but only yesterday in my Man Flu haze did I realize how similar HHH/Rock was to Dude/Austin from OTE 98, one big difference is that the odds were stacked Vs. the Champion at OTE but the whole biased ref and Vincenzo and stooges making appearances was the same. For me the better match was HHH/Rock BUT I have a high opinion of the Dude/Austin one as well.)

27 / 45 - Very good PPV here, one of WWF/Es best ever. Best four matches were the first and last two and with only one match I call poor you cant complain. I reviewed this off my Tagged Classics DVD which is no longer available bar e-bay. Catch this on WWE Network if you can.
4.5 pts over .500 might not seem much but that's actually very good.